Antarmahal

July 5th, 1878.

It has always been my belief that Hindu women are unequaled in their beauty.

I'm certain that all the landlords' wives whom...

...they keep hidden are far prettier than...

...this yellow mask-like goddess.

Like my patron Bhuwaneshwar Chowdhury ...

...the Hindu landlords vie with each other...

...for her favour through one or other access.

Drumbeats and sacrificial blood combined grotesquely...

...in a barbaric ritual.

Last year Bhuwaneshwar was apparently vanquished...

...in showmanship by the neighbouring landlord.

I believe he intends to get his own back this year.

Sometimes while he sits for my work, I catch snatches of that intent...

...through the conversation he holds with his estate manager.

After the immersion of the image I hear that he took a vow...

...that he would not be defeated again...

And since then has been pursuing...

...whatever top conceit has seized his mind.

A month has elapsed since I came to the Borobari...

...and saw the signs of the ravenous for the autumn festival...

Thank you... that will be all...

It takes three months of preparation... I heard...

...today being a auspicious day on...

...which work traditionally begins on the...

... goddess' image.

I thought the secret things in the temple worked disappointingly...

...so nothing at all.

Oh it's so humid today... today is the chariot festival...

...but no sign of a single drop of rain...

The people of the fair must be very happy... no rain...

...there must be a huge crowd in the fair ground.

I shouldn't have eaten that fried thing...

...god knows what oil they have used...

I had told you so many times that please send the palanquin...

...I'll go to the fair... buy Krishnanagar's doll...

I'll get them for you...

Oh... oh... oh my god...

What will you do with Krishnanagar's doll...

What else... I'll keep them as show piece...

...leave me... let me get up...

Spread your palm... spread your palm...

O my god!

What happened?

As it always happens.

But she never screams like that. Is he hitting her?

Hitting and loving is all the same for him...

...he doesn't remain a human being after he goes to bed...

Poor thing!

What poor thing... she wants to become the mother of a son...

...then she has to tolerate this much.

I had so much for 12 years...

Please keep quiet... don't start it all again at this hour of night...

I'll see how she will give birth to a son...

Whatever... please don't curse her...

...in this auspicious day of chariot festival...

Today is chariot festival... but the frame of the idol is not erected...

Come on... haven't you heard anything?

What?

The man who makes the idol has refused to make the idol this time.

What will happen then?

I don't know all that... master has ordered...

...the manager to dismiss the man who makes idol.

Then how will we worship the goddess this time?

That's their headache... now please go to sleep... go to sleep...

...even the opium won't also work after some time...

What a fuss! He has started fussing so much with his youngest wife...

...seems like he will put her in the temple...

...this time and worship her!

You were only asking for Krishnanagar's idol...

I never asked for such a horrible doll...

Then what do you want?

Radha Krishna... Gour Nitai...

Only idols? Those are not dolls...

Love birds... mango... pineapple... guava...

Do you feel like eating them?

You are impossible... can anyone eat a clay fruit?

I'm talking about real fruit... do you feel like eating?

No...

Then what do you feel like eating... tamarind?

You don't feel like eating them yet?

Then when will you feel like eating them... let me know?

I... I don't know... why?

Don't try to act innocent...

...you told me that you didn't have period this time...

It hasn't happened yet...

When is it due?

I had it last month on 6th... let me observe for 2 more days...

Pass me the hand fan... give... come... come closer...

Is this a new perfume?

You didn't apply this perfume while going out today.

You are supposed to go out with one fragrance and return with the other!

Then only I'll be considered as the man of the Borobari!

What happened? Why is he standing like a dumb?

Please finish that, sir.

This foreigner artist is impossible!

He won't even let me go to the toilet!

You can start now.

Sir... start...

Thank you.

Are you bringing the same kind of artist...

...to make the idol of goddess?

No way... after all a foreigner artist...

...can't make the idol of goddess.

Then?

I found a wonderful boy, sir.

Boy? Is this a work of a boy, Taracharan...

...when will you have some intelligence?

You are moving, Mr. Choudhury...

He knows only this sentence... moving... moving...

A little to your right, please.

Sir, he is asking you to move a bit to your right.

That's much better.

Is this the same artist... tell me... who has made the lizard?

You are right, sir... he made it wonderfully...

...and he is quite strong!

What will you do with his strength? Will he dig up soil?

He used to do that only earlier... he had come from Munger...

...then some how he learned this art...

...in Krishnanagar's Sriram Pal's workshop.

What a trouble... how will he make the face of the idol?

He won't make the face of the idol, sir...

...he will make the face of the queen.

Actually there is a problem with the Bengali artists, sir...

...none of them are agreeing to fix the face of...

...queen Victoria to the idol's body...

...after all they believe in some culture...

It's okay...

What's my fault, madam? Why am I being punished?

Have you had some food?

Please tell sir... you can make him understand...

...what will I do now?

Does he listen to any one?

You know him much before I came here... don't you know?

I know everything, madam... but you are like the goddess...

...so I came to request you for the last time...

Have you tried talking to him?

I tried... but I couldn't...

I waited all day long since morning...

...in the veranda outside his office...

The manager came around evening...

...and told me that sir won't talk to me...

Take this...

Keep this...

What will I do with this, madam?

They dismissed you at the last moment...

...after all you'll have to run your family...

You are just like the goddess Durga, madam!

But I didn't come for this... I have some paddy fields...

...I'll be able to arrange for food from there...

Then what?

The chariot festival is over...

...still I couldn't erect the frame for the idol...

...when will I tie the straw...

When will I apply clay on it... when will I put colour on it?

The master happily pays me for my work... but do you think...

...that I make idol for money?

Do you know why they dismissed you?

There will be new idol this time...

...they are saying that I won't be able to make it...

New idol?

Yes... I got to know that this time it will be a new kind of idol...

...they didn't tell me anything more than this.

Master is always like that... he brought a new wife...

...did he tell me anything about that?

One day I heard people talking about it... so I asked him...

I heard that you are getting married once again...

He didn't say anything clearly... then one day...

I have arranged everything, sister... let me go and call the priest...

But whatever you say, madam... I must admire master's choice...

she is beautiful... seems like her face is...

...curved like that of the idol...

When I got married and came to this house for the first time...

your father had said the same thing about me...

Everything changes with time... it's better to accept it...

otherwise you'll unnecessarily feel bad.

You better come again day after tomorrow...

...let me see if I can convince him...

What do you say... can you convince him?

What will I say, sister... he won't listen to me...

Tell him when he will be intimate with you...

...he won't be able to refuse...

Don't you know how long the intimate moment lasts?

Once he finishes he is asleep like a dead...

He doesn't even care whether I am alive or dead...

Don't say all that... you have to become...

...the mother of the descendent of this family...

How can you die so easily?

Listen... grab the snake before it bites you...

...otherwise once it spits venom...

You are right... it's a bite indeed...

Listen... why did you scream last night?

Did he teach you anything new?

The artist who makes idol...

...had come today... to meet sister...

What did he say?

He is an old man... he is making idol for this family for so long...

...he was crying a lot...

What good will crying do? I'll have to think about good and bad...

Do you think that making new idol will give you a son?